


Frostbite Scars

by writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Character Death, Enemies to Friends, Ghost Hiro, Ghost Hiromitsu, Heiji lies, Hiro hides stuff from Heiji, I am working on the outline of this entire fic, Is it major character death if the character is already dead?, Kaito thinks Heiji is another witch at first, Not all ghosts are nice, Overprotective Heizou, Poltergeists, Queerplatonic Relationships, Sonoko and Heiji bond over, Teen Cryptid club formed by Akako Heiji and Kaito, The AU where Heiji sees ghosts, because Akako killed someone, being under surveillance by their parents, but potential KaiHei, kidnapping is a good way to make friends, this is the one fic im actually making plans for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:02:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28879176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom/pseuds/writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom
Summary: The Hattori lineage had a medical condition, shared only by few other unrelated family lineages across the world.Unexplainable frostbite bruises and burns, unnatural and unexpected drops in body temperature to that of a corpses, sudden bleeding from the eyes and nose, and lastly, early death where the victims' body is covered head to toe in hand shaped frostbites.For all that knowledge of medicine, health and biology have advanced to this day, it is still an unexplainable condition, only known to be hereditary, and triggered in crowded spaces.Hattori Heizou's father was lucky to have lived past the age of 50.Hattori Heizou himself was lucky for the condition to have skipped over him.Heiji did not inherit his fathers luck, and he wonders if he won't inherit his grandfather's luck as well.Warnings for this au written in chapter end notes.Note: Slow updates because college, will edit previous chapters occasionally to correct mistakes/make it easier to read.Note 2: this might potentially remain platonic and not turn romantic
Relationships: Amuro Tooru | Furuya Rei & Scotch | Morofushi Hiromitsu, Hattori Heiji & Grandpa Hattori(OC), Hattori Heiji & Hattori Shizuka & Hattori Heizou, Hattori Heiji & Koizumi Akako, Hattori Heiji & Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Hattori Heiji & Scotch | Morofushi Hiromitsu, Hattori Heiji & Suzuki Sonoko, Hattori Heiji & Tooyama Kazuha, Hattori Heiji/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, Hattori Heizou/Hattori Shizuka, Hattori Shizuka & Hattori Heiji, Koizumi Akako & Tooyama Kazuha
Comments: 11
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Yesterday Upon The Stair](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8337607) by [PitViperOfDoom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitViperOfDoom/pseuds/PitViperOfDoom). 
  * Inspired by [i see murder victims](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16116212) by [blenderfullasarcasm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blenderfullasarcasm/pseuds/blenderfullasarcasm). 
  * Inspired by [know what i've made by the marks on my hands](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11356197) by [simkjrs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/simkjrs/pseuds/simkjrs). 
  * Inspired by [Amazing Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13665039) by [astorii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astorii/pseuds/astorii). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prologue.
> 
> (Content warnings at end notes)

Grandpa had passed away peacefully, clearly satisfied despite all the regretful ghosts that still surrounded him. Not having thinking of anything additional he wants to add. And it made sense after he had spent some time thinking about it. He was old, and he had done so much already in the time he had lived. 

It also helped when some of the ghosts that surrounded grandpa, the nicer ones, ones that stayed behind to give company as thanks, flocked to him, telling him about how Grandpa wanted to connect with his family, wanted to be of help, but couldn’t find a way to do so without it involving the dead. 

And after years of experience solving cases, murders, suicides, missing animals, theft- and Heiji’s glad Grandpa’s ghost didn’t stay after all. 

Because it meant he didn’t have regrets.

But most can’t be said for others.

_“I told him…I told him he was wrong. I told him he was wrong and he couldn’t understand what I meant- I loved him I did! I really really did!”_

Heiji allows a small sympathetic hum, letting Hiro do all the work of questioning the victim. 

“But he didn’t believe me! He didn’t believe me so he- so he-!”

At this, Heiji frowns a bit. Because it didn’t make sense.

He subtly signs towards Hiro as he puts his other hand up to his chin. Shiro had an alibi that Heiji can prove for it to be true, so while the ghost says that it’s Shiro, his lover who had killed him, that’s simply not possible. So he asks through Hiro;

_“How were you sure it was Shiro who did it? It was dark. Right?”_

Heiji sweeps his gaze over the collected evidence, mind whirling through the alibi of the others.

Then, his eyes narrow as his gaze lands on the culprit.

_“Because…because of…the hair….?”_

He signs.

_“It was a wig.”_ Hiro translates.

“Ah found the true culprit to this murder.” Heiji speaks, his gaze settled on Shiro’s father, his voice instantly drawing in the attention of everyone present, both living and dead.

The first time he realized how much power and responsibility a person who can see can have over the dead, it had scared him. 

A person who can deduce, who has see the evidence of a murder, has just as much power and responsibility over those left behind.

“Tha murder 'as done by someone who had a similar build to Shiro, but older. The culprit had worn a wig in order to make ‘imself look like Shiro….”

Shiro’s eyes flashed with recognition, and with widened, disbelieving eyes, he looks at his father.

His father, who sits stoically.

“Tha culprit had also worn the same shoe’ Shiro wears in order ta make sure he would get framed,” he shifts his stance into something relaxed as he sees the culprits arms shift and cross over each other, one hand going into his traditional kimono’s sleeve, “Had it not been for the fact that Shiro’s alibi was well known by his mother, and could be proved by his friends, the culprit would have gotten away with it…”

He watches as the father slowly loses more and more composure throughout his deduction. The ghost of Akira slowly stills, his tears drying as he blankly looks towards the one who would have been his in-law. Someone he had put his trust in. As Shiro’s clenches his fist more and more.

By the end of his deduction the other victim of this framed murder, the living one that was left behind asks a question as his father is put in handcuffs.

“Why?”

The culprit doesn’t bother deigning a response, looking calm. Prideful as the first time Heiji had come across him.

He hears Akira sobbing and Hiro trying to comfort the other.

There is another talk to be had after this, Heiji knows. 

Hiro gives him a look, and that lets him know it won’t be his place to talk to Akira.

———————————————-

Instead, he ends up talking with Shiro, who decided he wants to pay him back with food once Heiji declines his offer of payment.

“We were planning to get married in America.” Shiro tells him at the noodle stand he bought the 17 year old to that evening post case, “I wanted to tell my father. I wasn’t expecting him to be accepting but to think this…” he stops, pulling his eyes shut.

“…” Heiji doesn’t say anything as two bowls of noodles are set in front of them. He doesn’t tell him that Akira’s sitting besides him, looking regretful for ever doubting Shiro, and sad for all that has happened. Grateful that his true murderer was sent to jail, but angry that his lover and him were betrayed like this.

“…Now, I wonder if I should have never bothered. I should have taken Akira with me to America without saying anything, like he had wanted…”

_“No! No, I don’t regret that! I wanted to meet them too! It’s not your fault!”_ Akira frantically begins speaking, even as Hiro solemnly looks at him. Clearly experienced in how the living besides Heiji can’t hear them.

Once again, Heiji wonders the backstory of the elusive ghost, what he was doing those two years ago before he had met Heiji. 

That thought is dismissed in favor of answering the man.

“Ah dunno if ya’d appreciate my opinion on tha’,” he starts, “But what ah do know, is that both of ya only wanted each other's happiness, and that Akira really _did_ wanted ta get along with them.”

Akira falls silent.

Shiro is silent for a while before he speaks up “How…how can you tell that?” his voice cracks.

“You’ve told me that Akira didn’t like sweets,” Heiji begins, “Not even dango,” he pauses for a moment for Shiro to register what he’s saying, “And ya don’t like dangos yerself.”

“Ah,” Shiro realizes, “But my mother and…that man did.”

The prepared dangos in the kitchen, those weren’t for either Shiro nor Akira. They were exclusively for Shiro’s parents.

“Ah can’t say ah know 'im like ya do,” Heiji says “but if he didn’ wanna get along with’em, ah don’ think he would have gone through with tha effort.”

He politely pretends to not hear as Shiro begins to cry, and politely pretends he doesn’t see Akira soften either.

———————————————-

_“I’ve talked with Hiro about this whole…being dead thing and, uh, he said something about being a guardian spirit?…”_

“Ya don’ need my permission ya know?” Heiji interrupts with a raised eyebrow, “Ah mean, it’ yer decision. S’not mine,”

Akira snorts at that, _“Well true. But you seem like the type to worry over us dead folks.”_

And well, Heiji can’t deny that he supposes.

“Ya just do yer best then,” he says then “Wish we met under better circumstances’.”

It’s what he always says to the victims that continue to stay in the aftermath of a case. It felt the most appropriate. Better than ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘Glad to have met you’. 

Akira grins in a manner that looks sad, then disappears back to where his still alive lover is. 

And that’s that.

Heiji breathes, shuffling in his sneakers before closing his window again, pressing renewed rune against the window. 

No need to invite the uninvited.

_“You have a new frostbite marks on your ankle,”_ Hiro murmurs _“I still can’t believe the ‘medical condition’ schtick actually works.”_

“Hm-mm,” Heiji hums back, clicking the light on, sitting in front of his desk and opening his textbook “Well, it’ was easier to explain back then for my ancestors, and people like me are rare enough that doctors wouldn’ question it. Helps that it’ genetic ah guess, ain’t passable.”

It’s nice to have Hiro around, if Heiji was being honest. And that wasn’t just because of the company. It’s just nice to be able to say something to a familiar face, someone he’s close to. 

Even if he only ever knew them in their death and not life.

_“Hey, how about you give sleeping a try again?”_ Hiro suggests as he watches the teen make notes, _“You never know, maybe…maybe it won’t be so bad this time around.”_

Night terrors are too common for Hattori Heiji. 

When he was young, five he remembers, before grandpa had taken him in and taught him all he can, his nightmares were always of cold hands holding him down, and dragging him away from everyone. Of cold fingers that would clasp around his neck, and leave bruises. Of being suddenly whisked away, without having control over any of it, and never seeing his parents again.

He had wondered, and still wonders, if _his_ ghost would be snatched up and teared through when he dies.

Learning runes helped. However, instead of making Heiji’s nightmares disappear, it seemingly added onto them. The only thing he could think to blame is how with the barrier he came to see the ghosts clearer, and their forms were almost always in the state they died in. 

It was always gruesome. Starvation, bleeding wounds, missing limbs, busted face, crushed body… there are all sorts of manners to die Heiji had learned. And he had learned there are all sorts of excuses people can find to kill.

He wondered. Had wondered. Still wonders.

If he will ever end up seeing his parents like that. If he will ever end up seeing Kazuha like that one day.

He hopes not.

“Nah, not takin’ chances,” Heiji replies flatly. “’Sides, ah’ve been going to school like this for years a’ready.”

_“You are sooo going to regret that habit in college,”_ Hiro replies just as flatly.

“‘Cause ya did it?”

_“Yes. It was terrible. Contributed to my death.”_

“Las’ time ah checked ya died from shootin’ yerself.”

There is a tense pause, as there always tended to be whenever Heiji made a correct guess about how Hiro died.

_“That too,”_ is the absent minded reply as the room grows colder.

**_“That too.”_ **

———————————————-

“Heiji ya look dead on yer feet!” Kazuha practically yells in his ear the next morning as they make their way to school. “And ya got more of those marks! Ah thought ya said ya were careful at tha' case yesterday!”

Heiji sighs from where he’s in position, performing his katas. It’s five in the morning.

“Don’tcha do yer katas at six?” Heiji asks out of habit. Then, he takes notice of bruises under Kazuha’s eyes “And ya better not be takin’ afta’ me.”

“If ya don’ wan’ me ta repeat yer mistakes than don't make them,” Kazuha speaks, head held high and a glint in her eye as though she got the upper hand on Heiji. “An’ ah just finished mah katas,” the 2nd rank aikido master adds. 

“So that means ah get ta keep ya company!

Heiji pauses in his next kata momentarily, before continuing. This time, his expression although focused, was softer and has a smile on it.

“Don’t blame me if ya fall ‘sleep in class.”

“Then ya betta' wake me, Ahou!”

“Kazuha-chan,” the tired voice of Hattori Shizuka comes in “Please, it’s too early to be so energetic. Did you drink coffee?”

“Uh, nah!” she says, you know, like a liar. 

Honestly, Heiji’s kind of touched by how Kazuha’s trying to match her time table with his but…

Well.

He barely had any kind of a time table to match with.

Come to think of it, he thinks the last time he actually slept was-

“Wrong, Heiji,” his mother’s voice cuts through, and suddenly a closed fan taps against his limbs, correcting his stance, “How long have you been doing these katas now?”

She pauses. 

“Don’t answer that,” she intones gravely. “Stop, come over and have breakfast with us. You have two hours before school starts.”

Heiji obliges at that, sighing as he hears Hiro snicker and his mother mutter something suspiciously like ‘Heizou’s a horrible influence’ as she leaves.

All in all a regular morning in the Hattori household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: 
> 
> The murderer is implied to be a homophobic parent so that might be triggering to some viewers. It’s very brief though, otherwise sexuality or whatever isn’t focused upon. It’s not said outright either, but you know. 
> 
> Murder.
> 
> Note 1: This is the first time I’ve actually tried to write a deduction and crime scene.
> 
> Note 2: Idk how kendo katas work.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a new day, full of ghosts. His social life in shambles. The absent yet overbearing presence of his father. The new teacher hating him for wearing gloves. Theft of the money that was going to be donated to the homeless shelter. Ghosts.
> 
> A new day, same as before and after.
> 
> (content warning in the end notes, alongside additional notes)

There was a checkup Heiji did from once every week to two when it comes to his gloves. Usually he had plenty of time to do it, since sleep was pretty much void from his schedule _-much to Hiro’s disappointment-_ so it was, admittedly, not something he worried too much over. Replacing runes, or replacing the gloves themselves took over an hour or two, or just five minutes, depending on how long he wants the barrier to last.

Which often leads to the habit of procrastination, and another problem...

"Ugh."

Finding the gloves wasn’t the problem. 

The problem was discovering that those gloves are now tattered. On the verge of tearing apart like the shoes of a shoe cleaner. *

And he thought these were going to last longer too.

_“Well, maybe if you weren't so tired you would have noticed...”_ Hiro starts, to which Heiji interjects with a "Ah know." Because he _does_ know why it happened. He has bad habits and he's well aware they're slowly destroying his life. The rest of the living does the same thing.

He can regret all those bad habits when he dies from them.

To be fair, It couldn’t be helped that most murders happened around the more public spaces of Osaka. Or that he has to go to school. No way is he giving up going to school and interacting with other kids his age though, just because Heizou's paranoid about his only child's health.

And no matter how much it means having ghosts destroy his runes, and the gloves he attaches those runes to.

“Don’ have time...” Heiji mutters under his breath. If he had taken note of this earlier the previous night, he could have had more time to grab spare gloves and apply runes to them. As it is, he doesn’t even have time to bring out an entire new sheet of paper to renew the rune from itself from scratch. 

He sighs.

“Gonna hafta settle for this ah guess,” he laments before carefully turning the glove in his hand inside out, revealing the worn padding of paper inside of it. The mark applied to it was already faded. Heiji can see the usual protective barrier it makes just as worn down, blinking in and out of existence. 

With grim determination, he gets to work.

If nothing else, it should last him a day by the time he's finished with it.

"Heiji we're gonna be late!" Kazuha yells through the door just as he manages to put his gloves on, "Don' worry, ya look pretty as evah so don' botha with make ova'!" 

"Damn right ah do," Heiji replies sarcastically as he opens the door to his room to face Kazuha, "It' tha' lack of sleep. Gives me great eye shadows. Doesn' look good on ya though."

Kazuha snorts, but otherwise doesn't bother retorting back with anything but a playful smack to the shoulder. Must be the sleep deprivation. 

"Come on a'ready." And there she goes back down.

_"I hope she won't take after you,"_ Hiro idly comments as Heiji goes back to finish working on his gloves and grabbing his stuff, _"You're worrying enough as it is."_

"Yer the one who decides ta worry, ya can always leave without lookin' back," Heiji offers without looking, being very careful not to press the marker too much on the worn surface. 

And Hiro _could_ leave. He wasn't Heiji's guardian spirit after all. Whoever was keeping him bound, it was someone else, someone that isn't Heiji.

Someone that needs Hiro more than Heiji does.

_"I won't."_

** \----------------------------- **

“Iz’ Dad still workin’?” Heiji comments off handedly during breakfast, just for the sake of conversation. And to maybe show consideration. You know, as a son and all. Mostly to break the silence.

“Indeed, that man has been burying himself in work.” He watches his mothers face twist before resettling, her seiza position on the table unchanging as she eats rice in a graceful manner. 

_“Ah, poor Shizuka-chan...”_ an elderly ghost, who had introduced herself as ‘Haruko-chan’ sighs from where she's sitting in a similar position besides his mother, _“What a terrible husband. I’ve been around for decades now, and it seems all men can do is still worry their partners. Not even after Naniwa became Osaka did this change.”_

_“Morning Haruko-chan.”_ Hiro greets her politely instead of commenting on her comment on his gender. Though, he had looked like he wanted to rebuke that statement.

“Oba-chan, are ya strugglin’ ta wrangle him?” Kazuha intones, brows creasing in worry, “Ya know Oto-chan wouldn' hesitate ta help ya!"

_“As always that young lady...”_ Haruko mutters before turning to Heiji, _“It’s your influence boy. How could you call such a beautiful lady ‘grandma’?! Your own mother none the less!”_

Ah. Already such a noisy morning.

“...” Shizuka turns her gaze towards her son without moving her head, back straight and poised. “Heiji,” she says, this time in a more apologetic tone “Your father is reconsidering his decision of not having you under witness protection."

Kazuha winces, and quiets down at that.

Hiro’s eyes narrow as Haruko goes quiet, her good eye now watchful (She had lost the other one long before she had died, apparently). 

“...” Heiji sighs, putting his chopsticks and dish down before rubbing at his closed eyelids with his thumb and pointer finger, “Wha’ changed?” 

Just when he was thinking things were turning for the better too.

“Nothing,” his mother tells him, and this time she can’t quite hide her frustration, “It’s his paranoia acting up, really. When I questioned him he only told me that he’s feeling like the crime rate around you is getting worse and worse, and we even had a conversation about that already-!” 

She takes in a deep breath and huffs. 

“I’m sorry Heiji. I think this depends entirely on how many times more you will come across a dead body this week. Or how many times more you will get threatened with bodily harm.” 

Heiji doesn't know what to say to that. He can't control what happens around him and maybe that's the point. That's the exact reason why Heizou had used his authority in such a manner.

But so much breath was already wasted talking about this before they had thought it was over, so Heiji doesn't know what to say.

However, because his mother had always been at his corner, he does say "It ain't yer fault."

A moment of silence. 

“Ah- don’ worry Heiji! Ah can brin’ ya stuff from outside of Osaka...!” Kazuha breaks, looking mockingly solemn as she reaches across the table to pat Heiji's shoulder.

“Gee, thank ya fer the vote of confidence Kazuha,” He replies, making sure each syllable drips with sarcasm.

“Hmph! See if ah brin' ya any souvenirs!”

And breakfast turns into light bickering, the knot in his stomach loosening just a bit. He thinks this is why the Hattori and Tooyama are family friends. Certainly none of the Hattori family members, including Heiji, would know how to loosen a tense atmosphere like a Tooyama can.

As for the matter of Hattori Heizou...they will burn that bridge when it inevitably gets there.

** \----------------------------- **

_"Oh, Heiji-kun, Hiro-san, good morning~"_

_"Morning Heiji~"_

_"Morning-"_

"Heiji who yer sayin' good mornin' ta?" 

"Though' ah saw the neighbors cat."

"So yer sayin' 'morning' to cats now? Aw." 

"Shaddup."

** \----------------------------- **

School was going well, all in all. He arrives to school with Kazuha earlier than the usual time students tended to come in, succeeding in avoiding the morning crowd. After that, it's changing shoes and waiting in the empty classroom while bantering with each other.

It's a system that they and their parents had decided on after they had managed to convince Heizou to let Heiji go to the same high school Kazuha attends. It had taken Heiji proving that he can handle himself with a bokken, and agreeing to being kept under watch by some of his father's men at the beginning. After that, his father pulled back on the surveillance.

Heiji hopes it stays that way.

Course, there was the new teacher, Arima-sensei, that still scrutinized him for wearing gloves. Even though Heiji had explained time after time _again_ how it was because of a medical condition. He doesn’t cover nearly every inch of his skin for fun, nor because he was self conscious. 

_Though, he might be just a tad bit conscious of how his fingers are in a completely darker color compared to the rest of his skin..._

Well, sure, the ‘medical condition’ is a bit of a lie. It’s a genetic trait rather than a medical condition, since there were no other ways doctors were able to explain what was going on with his ancestors. Or with a few other separate lineages for that matter.

But still, there are medical files and reports that the school has already provided. Plenty of other students with their own mental illnesses and medical condition have already voiced their complaints. At this rate the man will lose his job.

Heiji won’t be too sad to see him go. 

“Today we will be discussing world famous authors of modern day,” the man looks piercingly towards Heiji “So we won’t have a talk of Ellery Queen today.”

It was a jibe that falls weak, that doesn’t bring even a hint of a smile from the others. When the man had first done it, yes, half of the class had found it funny. But Heiji only accidentally used a fictional mystery book, as a means of comparison against a book that is a documentation of an historical event _once_ in an essay.

Only once!

To be fair to himself, sleep deprivation was kicking in at the time. But the world isn't fair and Arima-sensei doesn't let go of small mistakes.

And sure, he will gush about his favorite book series to a few friends, well, gush about it to Kazuha and Hiro at least... _Okay so maybe he doesn’t have that many close **alive** friends_-

The point is, sure, his love for Ellery Queen is known. But he hardly talked about it _that_ much. So the joke the man makes at the expanse of Heiji naturally wouldn't be that funny after a week or two. 

Really, he would be irritated at the man more were it not for a certain child following him.

_"I'm really, really sorry about him,"_ the timid ghost of a child speaks for the umpteenth time. As far as Heiji's concerned, he had been following Arima-sensei long before he began teaching at Kaihou high school, _"Nii-san's just really strict! I promise! Please don't hate him too bad Heiji-nii-san!"_

_"No worries Arima-kun,"_ Hiro soothes the child _"Heiji's pretty much a pushover! So he will forgive him!"_

_Oi oi..._

He lets out a noiseless sigh. It's really not nice being bullied like this. He can't even defend himself and Hiro knows it. This was definitely payback for the times Heiji ignored him on purpose, wasn't it?

As Hiro and the child continued talking, Heiji's mind wandered off. It was pretty strange, all things considered. The way Arima came into the position of a teacher at Kaihou school that is. The previous literature teacher had conveniently fallen sick due to a severe 'food poisoning', having to take temporary leave and having a position open.

Then Arima almost instantly took position.

...

Heiji’s wondering if this is really about his gloves now. Maybe it’s another vendetta against his father instead.

Maybe it’s another vendetta because of a case he had solved.

Wouldn’t be the first time.

....Should he question-?

"Now," the teacher begins clearing his throat, cutting off Heiji's thought process "To be more specific, we will be talking of fictional writers, who are famous today and hold the top rankings," he turns the lights off and presses a button on a remote, turning on the projector. Apparently he had spent the time Heiji was mulling setting up the class.

Huh.

That's new.

For as long as the teacher had been teaching this class, which would be about four weeks, he had specifically avoided the fictional genre. Arima-sensei focused more on ancient edo periods, historical documentation of past relics. Which, made focusing on _modern_ fiction all the more unusual.

"This is for the essay you will write on how Western understanding still has an effect on today's time."

Oh that makes sense-

Wait.

Waaaiiit.

"Before any of you ask, yes," Amira-sensei drawls, a mean glint in his eyes "It will be an comparative essay."

He hears Kazuha let out a snort from where he's sitting besides him and Hiro's full blown laughter. If it weren't at his expanse, he would find the situation funny too if he was being honest.

_"That's a lot of dedication against your gloves!"_ Hiro says, continuing to chuckle.

It is. It sure is. 

Heiji doesn't know friends. Only traitors that have fun at the expanse of his misery.

** \----------------------------- **

Sometime after talking, the teacher pulls up a 20 minute video discussing the way Hanahaki diseases symbolism has changed throughout history, and how one can see such hints of that symbolism in one of Kudou Yusaku's early novels, before he had married his wife.

Using the privilege of being a teacher, Amira-sensei walks out of class for five minutes before coming back in.

There are traces of dirt and a leaf stuck firmly to the cuff of his pants.

Amira, the younger brother, who had followed the older man looks confused and uncertain.

Kazuha lets out an involuntary, silent yawn into her fist. 

Idiot. He had told her she won't last through lessons like that. If she falls asleep during class it will be on her.

**\----------------------------- **

The marker made runes predictably started to lose their effects. Which, wasn't unexpected. Heiji was fully prepared for this to happen.

There were the usual amounts of numerous ghosts in school after all. 

He can't say he's bothered by them however. After all, It’s not like he’s not used to the company of the dead. He’s plenty used to it. He’s been swarmed by them, runes or no runes, for the better half of his life. 

So the sight of them, usually in the same state as when they had died, coupled with the amount of corpses he comes across, doesn’t make lunch any worse than it can be for a regular person.

(Though, it does mean that he only gets Kazuha for company, the air around him too cold for others.)

(And even then, Kazuha herself feels compelled to wear layers.)

(No. He's _not_ lonely.)

The problem with being constantly swarmed by them though, and thus having his runes rendered useless, was _this._

“Ah-Heiji! Dude! What happened to your neck-” Koichi, a classmate who has a love for crowded spaces, pauses in his exclamation halfway through, something akin to recognition downing and a look of pity “-Aw hell dude. Is it acting up?”

With a slight frown Heiji brings a gloved hand up to his neck, and lets a slight grimace grace his face at the frostbite mark he hadn't noticed was there, “Nah man, ah c’n still-” but he gets cut off.

“Don’t push yourself Heiji!”

“We can’t go losing just because you gotta prove something!”

Heiji frowns at that.

“Ah’m tellin’ ya ah ain’ try’n ta-”

“Las’ time ya got those bruises show up,” he’s cut off, again, this time by another classmate “Ya were bleedin’ from the nose and eyes by the end of the matches.”

Suddenly, there were a lot more spectators in the locker room of the kendo club. Both living and dead. Hiro had a raised eyebrow, while quite a few of the other ghost sneered in clear glee.

_“It won’t hurt to let off on kendo for today, would it?”_ Hiro offers, _"Those runes won't last long. Best to avoid Murphy's Law."_

"Fine," he says, feeling defeat crawl through him as he hears the ghosts snicker and see his classmates look relieved. 

Dammit.

He didn't ask for this.

He didn't.

**_So why?_ **

** \----------------------------- **

He was not sulking.

_"Sulking doesn't suit you."_

"Ah ain' sulkin'," Heiji mutters to Hiro, scuffing his feet on the dirt. He was hanging around in the backyard of their school instead of in the schools kendo dojo where the Kendo club is having their practice matches. After agreeing not to participate he got permission to slip away, his school blazer back unbuttoned to let the cool air in. Winter is almost ending, but it's still cold enough that Heiji doesn't feel too hot.

He just can't bring himself to be a spectator.

Not this time.

To avoid the still snickering and jeering of invisible jerks, he specifically chose the one spot they all avoided by instinct. It's one of the rare public spaces that the living crowd and the dead do not. He discovered it during first year, and has spent many lunches there, when he got the chance to do it.

Of course, the detective side of him couldn't stop himself from investigating what made the ordinary looking backyard so special.

It wasn't a poltergeist, that much he could tell. If it were a poltergeist, a kind that tends to be territorial, then Heiji's senses would've been warned. Whatever runes he has on his person, they would have been broken in several parts.

Poltergeists were rare after all. It takes a special kind of grudge or despair to make them manifest after death. 

He had the unfortunate experience of encountering them twice.

Hiro was an exception when it comes to avoiding the grounds for some reason. He had expressed reservations for entering at first, but he had looked comfortable after forcing himself a couple of times.

Heiji wonders if Hiro's going to try following him to hell and back next. He doubts it but...you never know.

"Oi Heiji! Stop yer sulking!" Kazuha's voice suddenly demands from behind him.

Not bothering to speak, he only straightens up his back and raises his hand to lazily sign _'Not sulking,'_ and then, _'What are you doing here?'_

Last he checked, Kazuha still had her own Aikido matches to attend to. 

Sitting besides him, smoothening her skirt, she signs back _'I heard that they weren't letting you kendo.'_

He snorts a bit at her crud sign language, which earns him a light smack to the shoulder. 

_'Looking after me?'_ he says.

_'Always.'_ she replies.

She doesn't ask why he isn't watching the matches. Doesn't ask if he's alright. And Heiji likes her all the better for it, because Kazuha isn't one to ask useless questions.

Hiro begins humming as the two childhood friends continue to converse between each other in that manner. He floats nonchalantly, looking up towards the blue sky painted over with grey clouds. The tunes are forming in his mind as he continues to stare resolutely away from the two, opting to give them their privacy. 

_"Hiro-nii-san!"_ a voice calls out right as he feels tiny hands grip at his arm, startling him out of his thoughts and memories, _"Hiro-nii-san! I need Heiji-nii-san's help!"_ the ghost child looks frantic, his small pale hands tugging in urgency.

_"Arima-kun?"_

_"Nii-san- My nii-san has-"_

But the child couldn't finish his sentence, a sudden announcement blaring across the school grounds, startling both the dead and the living to look towards the speakers.

**"Attention to all faculty members and students! You are all to be gathered at the auditorium! No absences!"**

The announcement repeated itself a few more times, a rampage of footsteps being heard as the numerous people within the school move to comply. 

"...What'cha think?" Kazuha speaks, as she gets up, patting down her skirt and blazer to get rid of invisible dust and dirt. The question itself makes Heiji shrug.

"Dunno."

"Think it' murder?" and Kazuha looks half grim as she says this, fully prepared to face a corpse, and half humorous. A shared joke they both sometimes made at the expanse of Heiji's own bad luck.

"If t'was, they wouldn' announce it like this." 

Amira(the child) looks even more disconcerted, his translucent form flickering in clear uncertainty and agitation.

** \----------------------------- **

"It is with great grievance that I have to tell you, that the donations all of you worked hard to accumulate the month before have been stolen," the principle announces, his wrinkled hand holding the microphone from where he's standing on the stadium, "We are currently looking for the culprit, but you may have to stay here for the time being."

All students eyed each other and the teachers in silent suspicion.

Then, predictably, their eyes subtly turn towards the detective among them.

Heiji feels a sigh build up as Kazuha gives him a look of sympathy and a shrug that screams _'W_ _hat can ya do sometimes?'_

** \----------------------------- **

After making a quick phone call to his house -and thankfully it was Shizuka who had answered- Heiji excused himself outside to check around the school grounds. Kazuha, who was conveniently the class rep, offered to follow him around.

_'A'ight,'_ he begins, signing in ASL instead JSL, _'Ask if he saw his nii-san stole-'_

_"Nii-san was the one who did it."_

Nevermind then. 

_"Could you tell us how he did it?"_ Hiro prompts. 

_"He used the windows,"_ Amira begins to explain, _"And then he...typed in the code...um...I think he might have gotten the code from the times he walked up to the roof..."_ he seemed to wilt with each word that left his mouth _"I...never really realized what he was doing. This whole time."_

They're now outside the building, but still on the school grounds.

"Heiji, ya know who did it?" Kazuha asks him

"Ah don' have tha evidence yet," he tells her. Then, he corrects himself "Well, ah do 'ave one evidence...ah just need the method and motive," there was only one of kind of that particular tree on school campus after all, that grew the same kind of leaf that stuck itself to the cuff of Amira-sensei's pants.

"...Izzit tha' strange girl, watchin' us from ta other side of ta fence?" 

"Wha-" Heiji stops boring holes into the window of the principals office, turning and realizing that there _was_ a girl standing on the other side of the fence. In an uniform that clearly didn't belong to Kouhai, pale skin without blemishes, crimson eyes that were sharp and piercingly focused on him.

"She been watchin' us since fi'e min's ago," Kazuha whispers conspiratorially to him, "She' pretty but ah dunno...something' off about 'er."

'Something off' was one way to describe it.

For someone who couldn't see the numerous amount of dead swarming her.

_"Oh no...what is she planning?..."_

_"Is that a school uniform?!"_

_"Since when did that witch go to school?!"_

"...She ain' it," Heiji finally answers hesitantly, his blood running colder the longer he maintained eye contact with the girl, and the longer he heard those fear filled whispers "It ain' no outsider involved. C'me on."

They move away from there quickly, as quickly as Heiji can get them to. 

He hears Hiro speak.

_"Be careful of her Heiji. She's bad news."_

** \----------------------------- **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Dead child though no murder happens in present time. Inaccurate Geography because Kouhai High School isn't in Osaka and is, in fact, on another island of Japan's (But you know what? This is purely fiction).
> 
> \----------------
> 
> *: The reference is that a professional shoe cleaner would be too busy taking care of other peoples shoes to look after their own. Like that one story about two barber shops, one of which the owner has terrible hair and the other has good hair. The joke is that the one with the good hair goes to the other barber shop to maintain his good hair. This doesn't apply to all professionals. Some can do self maintenance while being dedicated to their job.
> 
> Note 1: Heiji wears gloves half for ghost reasons and half because he's too traumatized to let himself get touched outside of his own home, also half because any touch from a living human being would feel scalding. 
> 
> Note 2: Due to the amount of time he spends around ghosts, Heiji has a naturally cool body temperature. Moderate cool temperatures may feel like California's summer to him.
> 
> Note 3: Yes, Hanahaki disease. The supernatural is unknown but the effects is has on the world can be seen in subtle ways, and science is still unknowingly trying to explain them through biology, chemistry, geology and other such fields. No dice when it comes to origins nor reason, but the symptoms and ways to negate them have been discovered throughout history. The field of Psychology played a vital role in understanding unexplainable illnesses like Hanahaki disease. The 'medical condition' of the Hattori lineage is still unpredictable, however. Avoiding public spaces, or at least skin contact is what they recommend, but that's not what Heiji wants and forcing someone into isolation isn't ethical. 
> 
> Not that isolation itself is bad, it can be good for getting to know your own thoughts and feelings without the input of others mixing in, but it's not everyones cup of tea.
> 
> Note 4: There isn't much explainable about ghosts, but they're always all some form of regret that cling to earth, and have no recollection of the in between of dying and becoming a ghost. They keep their overall personalities from when they were alive, as well as their memories. 
> 
> Note 5: If asked none of them would be able to confirm nor deny religious beliefs because they only know as much as the living does in that area. So deities aren't going to be much of a thing. Yes, I will be changing somethings with Akako, her position of a witch and how that relates to Lucifer as well. There is a lot of canon divergence. Or not. We don't know that much about Akako, or about her powers and position as a witch. I'm not sure if Akako's powers necessarily relies on Lucifer either, though it's implied. If it is, oh well. But for the sake of this AU? changing that.
> 
> Note 6: Unlike in canon, Heiji isn't interested in answering his father's expectations. Instead, he's more interested in escaping from Heizou's overprotectiveness. His entire middle school years were spent being home schooled. He still managed to maintain a friendship with Kazuha, who visited him daily, and run into cases by helping other ghosts. For the most part though, his medical condition renders him socially isolated, and prevents him from participating in Kendo tournaments even. That being said, he's good at kendo much like canon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mistake many make, is underestimating Hattori Heiji.
> 
> This is mainly because it's very hard to get his picture taken and thus confirm that he is indeed the one that solved the numerous cases before, and not Mothman who did it.
> 
> \------------------
> 
> _There is a chorus of whispers, angered shouts from the entire audience, both dead and alive. Someone makes the spectacular attempt of getting their dispatched arm hit the culprit in the face, and had it not directly pass through the man, Heiji was certain the hand of it would have slapped him in the face. He silently gives 10 points for precision of the throw and the dedication that particular enraged ghost has._
> 
> (Moved content warnings towards beginning of end notes to prevent spoilers)
> 
> (additional notes in the end notes)
> 
> (School has started so updates will take a lot longer in favor of assignments, thank you for your understanding, had to cut it short)
> 
> Word Count: 3899

The issue of the strange crimson girl was pushed out of their minds in favor of preparing the evidence against Arima-sensei. Many things were strange in life. Being able to interact with the dead was strange, and this is coming from Heiji, who can interact with the dead. He would bring out credentials to testify this claim, were it not for the fact that he would very much rather lose a foot like one of their neighbor's hateful ancestor has.

He knows the danger of that claim, yes, because that same ancestor(a ghost, duh) loves retelling how he went about losing his foot over and over again. Maybe he was trying to tell Heiji how to avoid the mistake of losing feet, though the sixteen year old doubts it, considering how the story changes each time. The details of the pain does not, however, so Heiji thinks it _might_ have been a truly epic event. Or a very tragic one that the man might be feeling sorry for. Sometimes ghosts can stay behind for the most mundane regrets, like they aren't sure if they left the stove on before they went and died, so who knows really? Certainly not Heiji.

Anyways, in short, strange girls that stare after you and possibly stalk you is another kind of strangeness that can be put aside in favor for the matter at hand.

By the time they had made it back to the auditorium, half an hour had already passed. Part of him laments that he couldn't do it faster, like Ellery Queen or a certain Kudou Shinichi most certainly would have - _"_ Stop yappin' ta me about 'ow amazin' Kudo is Heiji," Kazuha dryly says _-_ but oh well. Their literature teacher -Tanaka-sensei, not Arima-sensei who is a substitute- who once compared the entirety of them to his _'My(Tanaka's) Grandma's wretched cats'_ had also told them in the same breath that they can't rush an essay unless they want to have several regrets in their writing.

Well, you arguably can't rush _anything_ without irreparably ruining it. Same goes for collecting evidence and establishing a deduction that can't be disproved. 

Upon their entering, all of the present peoples attention seemed to have shift towards them. Almost as though there a celebrity entered. It's kind of hilarious and also kind of sad that they only recognize him for his deduction skills.

 _"Heiji-nii-san...are you a popular detective?"_ Arima(the younger brother) questions.

 _"He kind of is. Well. In school he is at least,"_ Hiro hesitantly answers in place of Heiji, given that the Osakan can't speak for himself at the moment. _"It's complicated."_

Understatement of the century.

Instead of addressing the stares and whispers in the typical fashion of a self conscious teenager, Heiji walks up to the stadium as a decidedly self assured teenager, followed closely by Kazuha who sticks close. Upon climbing the stadium, he grabs the microphone out of a confused but also slightly expectant looking teachers' hands. Meanwhile, Kazuha takes her own place where the computer is, less dismissive than Heiji is as she politely explains how they will be temporarily borrowing the stadium. Heiji wonders if he can influence her enough to lose all respect in adults, a future goal to work for besides being able to leave Osaka. 

**"Ahem,"** he clears his throat, the sound echoing around from the speakers hanging from the corners of the ceiling to the acoustic panels, effectively gathering the attention of his gathered audience. His eyes catch a brief glance of a camera being turned on, a more than familiar headache which he decides to ignore for now. It will most likely come back later.

**"Ah ain't one fer speeches so ah'm gonna get straight to the point."**

** \--------------------------- **

Several traits come with being able to interact with the dead. They can be convenient or inconvenient depending on the time and place.

Lower than normal body temperature, for one. On one hand, it means others(Kazuha) can't really get back at him when he dumps snow down their(Kazuha's) back, since he's some glorified Elsa. On the other hand, the times he almost got heatstroke in Spring of all times can be counted on...more than both of his hands, embarrassingly enough.

Hearing whispers of private information that should be none of your business, for two. He really didn't need a repeat of hearing a ghost wax poetry about his mother. Sure, it means he's the holder of various blackmail material but there are things he absolutely _does not_ need to know _nor_ hear. Plus, Hiro has the habit of sometimes narrating his(Heiji's) life if Heiji doesn't answer him for longer than necessary. He can do _without_ that harassment thank you very much.

Being a convenient living and breathing punching bag for the dead, be it through words or physical violence, for three. Honestly, Heiji can't say there is much convenience to this. The marks left behind _does_ , however, serve as a good way to catch someone off guard. 

Not being able to take selfies without your entire image getting blurred, thus leading certain people to claim it was in fact Mothman that solved those cases and not Heiji, for four. The inconveniences to this are obvious. People who only read the newspaper or watch the news for the cases he solves cannot confirm that the smudge of a person is actually Hattori Heiji, meaning most of public credit outside of Osaka tends to go towards a mystery person instead of his own name. 

There are dozens of inconvenient yet at the same time convenient traits Heiji could list off. He's learned to live with them, for the most part.

In this instance, the fourth of them is more convenient.

See, there is a convenient mistake those who haven't seen Heiji personally on a case make. It's an easily made mistake, really. They can't necessarily be blamed for it. Even the ones who know him, except for Kazuha and those unseen by others, does it sometimes.

Well, he _might_ still take a little offense. 

If he weren't so used to it, that is.

** \--------------------------- **

**"The one who did it was Arima-sensei,"** he speaks, all oh so matter of factly. He decides he likes this way of deduction then, when he sees the clear effects his voice has on the audience. It's nice, being all tall, feeling like he was being respected. 

The teacher scoffs as soon as all eyes turn on him. Like the odd one out 

"Oh really?" he sarcastically speaks, ensuring his voice is loud enough to be heard, borderline shouting. "And what evidence do you have for that claim, Hattori-kun?" He crosses his arms where he stands, raising a greying eyebrow. There is a twitch on his lips that is most likely a condescending smirk. 

Then, the teachers' brows furrow. 

A few students in the stands quietly claps their hands together in silent prayer. Few who are willingly to offer their sympathy towards a culprit.

_"Rest in several pieces."_

_"Hiro-nii-san, is Nii-san going to die?"_

_"Oh. Not literally no."_

_"Then why did you say that?"_

_"It's a...it's a thing I will explain later, if we have the time for it. Ok?"_

_"Oh...ok...Heiji-nii-san is smiling really scarily though."_

**"Oh Ah was jus' getting to that."** Heiji speaks as he takes a few steps towards the center of the stadium. He can see the translucent images of several ghosts filing in. 

** \--------------------------- **

There is a common mistake those who don't know Hattori Heiji make.

Those who take a look at the newspaper reports made on the cases he's solved in Osaka, and only see the blurry pictures.

Those who weren't part of the cases he has solved, and were only there to witness the effects of his 'medical condition'.

Those who, sometimes even despite witnessing his skills with a bokken, can only seem to remember the times his frostbites increased to the point of making him keel over.

You see, they made the mistake of underestimating Hattori Heiji.

** \--------------------------- **

**"Tha theft was done sometime before noon, when tha principal had left his office, and tha security cameras weren't checked. The method used was this,"** he begins, and as though they had rehearsed this for hours, Kazuha's fingers practically glide across the keys of the computer in front of her. In moments, the screen behind him lits up from the projector. 

'When did they make a presentation?' a stray whisper comes from the stands, and goes highly ignored due to its unimportance. A picture of the principals office window is shown.

 _"Oh so that's what the usb stick was for,"_ he hears Hiro remarks out loud to himself.

 **"Tha principals office is placed in a way ya normally can't reach. Nah unless ya know how ta take advantage of the tree there, with tha right equipment and strength,"** Heiji allows himself to feel momentarily proud when Kazuha quickly clicks on the next slide as if on cue. She is going places. **"We went up to the same floor, and found the rope marks left behind on the tree trunk,"**

"It's true that I am proficient in rock climbing, but in case you haven't heard I-"

 **"We called up yer doctor, ah dunno what ya were plannin', thinkin' faking yer injury like that was gonna let ya get away..."** Heiji then adds on for good measure **"'We can call 'im up now, just to check in with 'im again and confirm it fer everyone here."**

Really, it was kind of ridiculous. Was he not expecting to be caught at all? Actually, he looks like he's trembling now.

"But I would have been caught on footage-"

**"We foun' the polaroid photos ya threw away."**

Another click. A slide of those polaroid photos Heiji had found with the help of Arima-kun. They were pictures of the different times of day of the same view, and had tape pieces stuck to them. 

There is a scoff that could be heard from someone Heiji's sure is one of the dead _" **I** could have done it better." _Hm, maybe he wouldn't do these deductions in a manner like this too much.

 **"Gotta admit, yer pretty meticulous,"** he praises nonchalantly **"But yer pretty sloppy at hiding evidence, despite havin' planned this since the beginning ya came here. Maybe even a week before that, when ya deliberately poisoned Tanaka-sensei just to take his position."**

Which is another surprise. All that planning, all that careful attention to detail...and somehow Arima-sensei failed to destroy evidence. It was easy. Too easy.

Silence, the teacher looking stunned for few minutes before letting out a huff, shoulders slumping. 

**"Want me ta go on?"** Heiji inquires. You know. Just to be a little nice.

"No. That's fine. I give up," Arima replies, sounding tired.

** \--------------------------- **

After all, they don't think that the rich kid with a medical illness was actually the one who solved all those cases.

No, they thought he was using the privilege of being a police officers son to take credit more often than not.

And at some point, he gave up trying.

** \--------------------------- **

"Arima-sensei..." the principal begins, "Why would you do this?" Why indeed. It seemed all of the A mysterious reason only Heiji could be privy to.

"..."

"Arima-"

"To avenge my dead little brother."

"...What?" 

"We had ran away from home together when I was young..." the story begins, one of which Heiji already knows of, "We were two homeless children on the streets of Osaka, and were staying in that very same homeless shelter you would be donating to."

"So why-"

"That same shelter was what killed my brother. That's why."

There is quiet.

"My little brother was very, _very_ sick, you see," Amira continues, voice dull yet confident in the words it forms, "And neither of our parents were willing to waste money on us." There is a gleam of anger in his eyes, a glazed look in them as he stares, unseeing what is in front of him.

Heiji hears the soft sniffling of a small child.

"They were starving him, in fact, decidedly leaving him for dead." His jaw tenses as he grits his teeth. "So naturally, I had to get him out of there, get him somewhere where he would possibly have better hopes of survival." 

"The only place we could turn to, a place that wouldn't call social services on us at the time, yet still promised help, was that exact same homeless shelter."

"I was proven horribly wrong, of course." A bitter chuckle escapes him this time. "My little brother died, without ever getting the help he needed. I've never forgotten how overlooked we were. I've never forgotten how there were so many people there, so many staff members, and not a single one of them turned a glance towards us." 

Heiji feels a frown form on his own face.

"You may have caught me in the act, but I have no regrets."

There is a chorus of whispers, angered shouts from the entire audience, both dead and alive. Someone makes the spectacular attempt of getting their dispatched arm hit the culprit in the face, and had it not directly pass through the man, Heiji was certain the hand of it would have slapped him in the face. He silently gives 10 points for precision of the throw and the dedication that particular enraged ghost has.

 _"Fool! You've doomed others with your selfish actions! Those shelters are needed!"_ a samurai rants, clearly passionate against the injustice. A fun part of being able to see ghosts is that Heiji doesn't have to wonder what historical figures would think of the current state the world is in today. Not like many historians, scholars or those who are just a fan of certain historical figures would have.

Heiji opens his mouth.

"Ya could 'ave worked on changin' it instead." He doesn't flinch as that wrathful gaze turns to him. 

"All ya did was commit a great injustice to the otha' 'omeless people in tha' shelta', who are jus' tryin' ta get by in life, an' weren' even tha' source of yer anger," Heiji drawls, and for a brief moment he sees the older man waver. "And us students, who worked hard on bringing together that money, were workin' preventin' more people like yer brotha' from meeting the same fate."

"Ya didn' change anythin' in the end."

Revenge? What bullshit. This wasn't revenge. It was a plan that only served to ensure that other innocents would get poisoned because of someone else's narrowed way of thinking. Why destroy something, cost millions of lives in the progress, when you could improve on making it into something better? When you could make a change instead of destruction?

Another thing that not only personally angered him a bit more, but confused him as well, was the extremely poor execution of the plan.

"Ah've gotta ask ya, why didn'cha destroy those photos?" There were several ways the teacher could have done it, and yet he hadn't. 

"I..." the teacher begins, but stops. Blinks. Momentarily looks confused. Disoriented, as though he wasn't entirely sure of where he was.

Then he suddenly turns eerily still.

 _"Heiji-"_ Hiro's voice suddenly reaches his ears, sounding alarmed.

Whatever warning Hiro was trying to impart on Heiji is interrupted, as Amira-sensei suddenly lunges from where he's below the stadium, propelling himself forward and onto the stadium like a monkey that escaped the zoo. if said monkey was a middle aged man with greying hair. And was foaming at the mouth with a deranged look.

It takes him a minute to register that his shoulder is being grabbed, and that he's being pushed down alarmingly quickly.

It takes a shorter amount to feel the burning sensation of another human beings hand around his neck.

Scalding.

Burning.

_Squeezing._

He doesn't notice that he's on the floor.

He doesn't hear the shouting.

There is spit coming onto this face, something wet and gross that he can feel drop on his cheek. His air supply is cut off, black spots are dancing across his vision as he quickly loses oxygen.

He's choking for air and burning alive at the same time.

It hurts.

The dead are crowding - _hissing, sneering, shouting, grieving, cackling, indignant-_ Their hands claw at the now barely there barrier Heiji's runes are providing, the fragile, easily breakable protection. Heiji can feel it slowly wearing off with each touch, like hand cream that gets annoyingly easily removed halfway throughout the day and you have to reapply it. 

He doesn't have the option to reapply it.

He can hear Hiro's voice snarling and shouting at the others. Arima-kun's screaming _N_ _ii-san stop!_

_It's going to break,_ he thinks as his arms reach out to push the grown man off of him. He's not sure if he's fast or not.

_"Back The F*ck Off ! Back OFF YOU DAMN HYENAS-!"_

Hiro sounds angry. Desperate. A mix of both. Like he's barely keeping it together. Which is unusual.

_They're going to break through,_ he thinks as blisters from over his throat where it's being held.

_They're going to-_

There is the sensation of an extreme cold, the kind of cold that means nothing good. 

Everything is too cold. Everything is too hot.

And Arima-sensei's eyes are red.

**The rune breaks.**

** \--------------------------- **

She blinks her eyes a couple of times, until the red washes off. She thinks she might have overdone it, what with the trickle of blood going down from her nose. And the impending headache.

Well, that had been easy enough. Not really. But it had been...and easy decision to make despite the amount of sacrifice she had to put. The consequences. 

However she wasn't quiet...expecting these results. Not that she's feeling guilty for it. Absolutely not. She will lie with her choices with confidence, thank you very much.

It's just that she barely knows of how this should all be working. She wasn't expecting to see blood, from the eyes no less. Was it his own form of payment? But she had been told that it wasn't a form of magic the boy was surrounded by. She had made sure to asked detailed questions even, to her usually cryptic dear informant. 

It cost her too much for them to be lying to her.

It wouldn't do if the one she's employing the help of got brain damaged... or something. Though, she's not sure if that teacher had made the boys head hit the floor hard enough for something like that. Maybe she could find a spell for it, with the right amount of payment. 

She yawns then, suddenly, without permission from herself. Then, she grimaces. This isn't good. Sleep deprivation certainly won't make her charm any less, but it left her open to making mistakes, to missing important details because all because her brain's function busts itself.

Well, whatever gets her to the solution to her problem faster...

At least then she will be able to get some actual sleep later. And have regrets over this whole ordeal.

_** \--------------------------- ** _

_Cold cold cold hands, grabbing at his ankles. He doesn't scream because it doesn't matter how much he screams, they keep coming back. They keep coming back and they want more of him. They want his wrists. They want his pulse. They want the warm blood pumping through him and he can already taste it being pushed out from inside him through his nose and mouth-_

_**No** , he's thinking. _

_**No** , he's begging. _

_It's cold. It's so so cold. But he's always cold. Cold to the point it burns. Cold to the point it leaves marks all over him and he can't breathe-_

_"-ji-"_

_He's noiseless, he's struggling but they won't let go they just won't-_

_"-EIJI-"_

_It doesn't matter how much he struggles-they're stronger, he's weaker, smaller, he's being dragged dragged dragged until-_

**_"HEIJI!"_ **

-Until there is a familiar voice screaming at his face, a rush of air that suddenly enters his lungs and he realizes that no one is holding him. No cold hands. No Arima-sensei standing over him.

Only Hiro's head disappearing into Kazuha's, with their concerned looks severely overlapping. Hiro's head is transparent, and ghosts don't interact with the living the same way they do with Heiji. He thinks there was a time that he would cringe before he got used to others around him being completely unaware that a dead person is performing a caramel dance right besides them and humming the tune even. 

Now the same situation serves to be an absurd enough image that makes him wheeze, and then cough because of the way his lungs contract at finally being let in blessed air. Hiro seems to realize his head is in Kazuha's, extracting himself from her quickly as he looks relieved yet annoyed at the same time. _"I see you're fine enough to be amused by the situation."_

Thankfully, Kazuha doesn't seem to notice that Heiji's laughing, or she would have angrily hit him instead of looking relieved. "Heiji," she says instead, blocking his view from the surrounding crowd. Weird, that he can't see the dead anywhere, maybe they had lost interest? "Heiji, ya with me?" Kazuha repeats, bringing his attention back to her.

"m'fine.." he manages, his throat feeling dry and his tongue heavy. He grimaces momentarily before he speaks again, "'S Amira-sensei...?"

"Ah flipped'im ova'," Kazuha answers his unfinished question, still careful not to touch him "Might've broken 'is jaw. He lucky I didn' flip him by the neck. Think ya can stand?" 

It wasn't what Heiji was asking actually. He was really just wondering if he got arrested. Though he is glad for Kazuha's decision to defend his honor.

He gets his answer when he pushes himself up-his throat stinging from blisters, which is a bit harder to ignore from the sting of frostbites- and sees Arima being escorted out of the auditorium. Arima-kun(the younger brother) was following close behind him, sending worried looks towards them while simultaneously keeping a close watch over his brother. Heiji could see his entrie being fluctuating in a way that is no way positive, which usually meant Arima-kun was possibly entering the beginning stages of becoming a poltergeist. 

But that's not what unsettled Heiji. No. It's not his biggest concern at the moment.

What unsettled Heiji was the way Arima-sensei looked confused. Disoriented. His eyes glazed. It's like he doesn't even know where he is as the police officers hold him by the arms and bring him out. Like he has no idea what happened.

For a brief moment he thinks of the word 'crimson'.

The thought is quickly shaken out of his head when the school nurse clears her throat from where she's standing besides them both, "We have called Hattori-san regarding what happened, both of your parents want you to come back home early today."

And suddenly Heiji remembers the conversation from this morning. To be more specific, he remembers what Hattori Shizuka had said.

_“I’m sorry Heiji. I think this depends entirely on how many times more you will come across a dead body this week. Or how many times more you will get threatened with bodily harm.”_

He sighs.

"Kazuha, ya betta rememba' ta bring souvenirs from outside."

For a moment Kazuha looks confused before understanding downs on her and she grimaces, patting the area on his shoulder that's still clothed in sympathy.

**\--------------------------- **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Author does not know biology. Author also is not good at writing mysteries or deductions. Mentions of a neglectful homeless shelter. Attempted murder. Panic attacks. Akako magically mind manipulates someone.
> 
> Important note: Heiji solely learned sign language for the sake of communicating with dead people, and for discreet purposes. He sometimes prefers being quiet. Im not sure if he could be described as 'selectively mute'.
> 
> Note 1: Okay, so Akako DEFINITELY has a plan here, and I swear that plan is going to show itself next chapter. But I didn't want to draw the entire chapter out for too long, and it seemed like a good place to end it.
> 
> Note 2: Originally there was going to be a set up for a much longer mystery. But I decided to dumb it down and make it not much of a mystery, and tied it off with one thing to another. Well. It still ended up being too long unfortunately. ;(
> 
> Note 3: Kazuha, outside of the house, can be said to be entrusted with Heiji's "safety" during school hours. Outside of school hours Heiji has breathing room. However, this does mean that Kazuha had many instances where she was basically Watson to Heiji's Sherlock. Couldn't find the Ellery Queen version of that term.
> 
> Note 4: Does Heiji have a complex? Yes, probably. He still does have an admiration for Kudou Shinichi, but he compares himself to him more often than not. The pedestal he's put Shinichi in is a little different. A lot taller, stacked with all the praises other ghosts tell him. Heiji knows he's doing his best, that he's very helpful to the dead and living as a detective, but that's hard to believe.
> 
> Note 5: I might change the ages to fifteen instead of sixteen, since this whole thing should be happening a year before canon.

**Author's Note:**

> https://heijiseesghostsau.tumblr.com/ 
> 
> Warning: Spoilers mostly through my own self indulgent ramblings. Blog still in development.


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